Motivated by recent interest in permutation arrays, we introduce and investigate the more general concept of frequency permutation arrays (FPAs). An FPA of length n=m lambda and distance d is a set T of multipermutations on a multiset of m symbols, each repeated with frequency lambda, such that the Hamming distance between any distinct x,y in T is at least d. Such arrays have potential applications in powerline communication. In this paper, we establish basic properties of FPAs, and provide direct constructions for FPAs using a range of combinatorial objects, including polynomials over finite fields, combinatorial designs, and codes. We also provide recursive constructions, and give bounds for the maximum size of such arrays.
We give some results about a bijection associating each permutation with a subexcedant function. This function is related to a particular decomposition of the permutation as a product of transpositions and therefore it has been called transposition array in the literature. In particular, we identify anti-exceedance positions of the permutation through its transposition array and we give an expression of the bijection in terms of the cycle structure of the permutation. We give a characterization of a family of permutations having a non-decreasing transposition array and study length 3 pattern a…
Constant composition codes have been proposed as suitable coding schemes to solve the narrow band and impulse noise problems associated with powerline communication. In particular, a certain class of constant composition codes called frequency permutation arrays have been suggested as ideal, in some sense, for these purposes. In this paper we characterise a family of neighbour transitive codes in Hamming graphs in which frequency permutation arrays play a central rode. We also classify all the permutation codes generated by groups in this family.
Symmetry plays a fundamental role in design of experiments. In particular, symmetries of factorial designs that preserve their statistical properties are exploited to find designs with the best statistical properties. By using a result proved by Rosenberg [6], the concept of the LP relaxation orthogonal array polytope is developed and studied. A complete characterization of the permutation symmetry group of this polytope is made. Also, this characterization is verified computationally for many cases. Finally, a proof is provided.
An $(n,k)$ sequence covering array is a set of permutations of $[n]$ such that each sequence of $k$ distinct elements of $[n]$ is a subsequence of at least one of the permutations. An $(n,k)$ sequence covering array is perfect if there is a positive integer $λ$ such that each sequence of $k$ distinct elements of $[n]$ is a subsequence of precisely $λ$ of the permutations. While relatively close upper and lower bounds for the minimum size of a sequence covering array are known, this is not the case for perfect sequence covering arrays. Here we present new nontrivial bounds for the latter. In pa…
Permutation arrays under the Chebyshev metric have been considered for error correction in noisy channels. Let $P(n,d)$ denote the maximum size of any array of permutations on $n$ symbols with pairwise Chebyshev distance $d$. We give new techniques and improved upper and lower bounds on $P(n,d)$, including a precise formula for $P(n,2)$.
In this paper, we find an explicit formula for the generating function that counts the circular permutations of length n avoiding the pattern 23 4 1 whose enumeration was raised as an open problem by Rupert Li. This then completes in all cases the enumeration of circular permutations that avoid a single vincular pattern of length four containing one vinculum. To establish our results, we introduce three auxiliary arrays which when taken together refine the cardinality of the class of permutations in question. Rewriting the recurrences of these arrays in terms of generating functions leads to f…
Using a blend of combinatorics and geometry, we give an algorithm for algebraically finding all flags in any zero-dimensional intersection of Schubert varieties with respect to three transverse flags, and more generally, any number of flags. In particular, the number of flags in a triple intersection is also a structure constant for the cohomology ring of the flag manifold. Our algorithm is based on solving a limited number of determinantal equations for each intersection (far fewer than the naive approach). These equations may be used to compute Galois and monodromy groups of intersections of…
There is always a natural embedding of $S_s\wr S_k$ into the linear programming (LP) relaxation permutation symmetry group of an orthogonal array integer linear programming (ILP) formulation with equality constraints. The point of this paper is to prove that in the $2$ level, strength $1$ case the LP relaxation permutation symmetry group of this formulation is isomorphic to $S_2\wr S_k$ for all $k$, and in the $2$ level, strength $2$ case it is isomorphic to $S_2^k\rtimes S_{k+1}$ for $k\geq 4$. The strength $2$ result reveals previously unknown permutation symmetries that can not be captured …
We investigate retransmission permutation arrays (RPAs) that are motivated by applications in overlapping channel transmissions. An RPA is an $n\times n$ array in which each row is a permutation of ${1, ..., n}$, and for $1\leq i\leq n$, all $n$ symbols occur in each $i\times\lceil\frac{n}{i}\rceil$ rectangle in specified corners of the array. The array has types 1, 2, 3 and 4 if the stated property holds in the top left, top right, bottom left and bottom right corners, respectively. It is called latin if it is a latin square. We show that for all positive integers $n$, there exists a type-$1,…
An (n,d)-permutation code is a subset C of Sym(n) such that the Hamming distance d_H between any two distinct elements of C is at least equal to d. In this paper, we use the characterisation of the isometry group of the metric space (Sym(n),d_H) in order to develop generating algorithms with rejection of isomorphic objects. To classify the (n,d)-permutation codes up to isometry, we construct invariants and study their efficiency. We give the numbers of non-isometric (4,3)- and (5,4)- permutation codes. Maximal and balanced (n,d)-permutation codes are enumerated in a constructive way.
Let M(n, d) be the maximum size of a permutation array on n symbols with pairwise Hamming distance at least d. We use various combinatorial, algebraic, and computational methods to improve lower bounds for M(n, d). We compute the Hamming distances of affine semilinear groups and projective semilinear groups, and unions of cosets of AGL(1,q) and PGL(2,q) with Frobenius maps to obtain new, improved lower bounds for M(n,d). We give new randomized algorithms. We give better lower bounds for M(n,d) also using new theorems concerning the contraction operation. For example, we prove a quadratic lower…
In this paper, we introduce plane permutations, i.e. pairs $\mathfrak{p}=(s,π)$ where $s$ is an $n$-cycle and $π$ is an arbitrary permutation, represented as a two-row array. Accordingly a plane permutation gives rise to three distinct permutations: the permutation induced by the upper horizontal ($s$), the vertical $π$) and the diagonal ($D_{\mathfrak{p}}$) of the array. The latter can also be viewed as the three permutations of a hypermap. In particular, a map corresponds to a plane permutation, in which the diagonal is a fixed point-free involution. We study the transposition action on plan…
For the calculation of Springer numbers (of root systems) of type $B_n$ and $D_n$, Arnold introduced a signed analogue of alternating permutations, called $β_n$-snakes, and derived recurrence relations for enumerating the $β_n$-snakes starting with $k$. The results are presented in the form of double triangular arrays ($v_{n,k}$) of integers, $1\le |k|\le n$. An Arnold family is a sequence of sets of such objects as $β_n$-snakes that are counted by $(v_{n,k})$. As a refinement of Arnold's result, we give analogous arrays of polynomials, defined by recurrence, for the calculation of the polynom…
We study three dimensional array of numbers $B(n,k,j)$, $0\le j,k\le n$, where $B(n,k,j)$ is the number of type $B$ permutations of order $n$ with $k$ descents and $j$ minus signs. We prove in particular, that $b(n,k,j):=B(n,k,j)/\binom{n}{j}$ is an integer and provide two combinatorial interpretations for these numbers.
A PSCA$(v, t, λ)$ is a multiset of permutations of the $v$-element alphabet $\{0, \dots, v-1\}$ such that every sequence of $t$ distinct elements of the alphabet appears in the specified order in exactly $λ$ permutations. For $v \geq t$, let $g(v, t)$ be the smallest positive integer $λ$ such that a PSCA$(v, t, λ)$ exists. We present an explicit construction that proves $g(v,t) = O(v^{t(t-2)})$ for fixed $t \geq 4$. The method of construction involves taking a permutation representation of the group of projectivities of a suitable projective space of dimension $t - 2$ and deleting all but a ce…
We prove several combinatorial properties of suffix arrays, including a characterization of suffix arrays through a bijection with a certain well-defined class of permutations. Our approach is based on the characterization of Burrows-Wheeler arrays given in [1], that we apply by reducing suffix sorting to cyclic shift sorting through the use of an additional sentinel symbol. We show that the characterization of suffix arrays for a special case of binary alphabet given in [2] easily follows from our characterization. Based on our results, we also provide simple proofs for the enumeration result…
We characterize those strings whose suffix arrays are based on arithmetic progressions, in particular, arithmetically progressed permutations where all pairs of successive entries of the permutation have the same difference modulo the respective string length. We show that an arithmetically progressed permutation $P$ coincides with the suffix array of a unary, binary, or ternary string. We further analyze the conditions of a given $P$ under which we can find a uniquely defined string over either a binary or ternary alphabet having $P$ as its suffix array. For the binary case, we show its conne…
A permutation array $A$ is a set of permutations on a finite set $Ω$, say of size $n$. Given distinct permutations $π, σ\in Ω$, we let $hd(π, σ) = |\{ x\in Ω: π(x) \ne σ(x) \}|$, called the Hamming distance between $π$ and $σ$. Now let $hd(A) =$ min$\{ hd(π, σ): π, σ\in A \}$. For positive integers $n$ and $d$ with $d\le n$, we let $M(n,d)$ be the maximum number of permutations in any array $A$ satisfying $hd(A) \geq d$. There is an extensive literature on the function $M(n,d)$, motivated in part by suggested applications to error correcting codes for message transmission over power lines. A b…
We introduce twisted permutation codes, which are frequency permutation arrays analogous to repetition permutation codes, namely, codes obtained from the repetition construction applied to a permutation code. In particular, we show that a lower bound for the minimum distance of a twisted permutation code is the minimum distance of a repetition permutation code. We give examples where this bound is tight, but more importantly, we give examples of twisted permutation codes with minimum distance strictly greater than this lower bound.
We consider rational functions of the form $V(x)/U(x)$, where both $V(x)$ and $U(x)$ are polynomials over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. Polynomials that permute the elements of a field, called {\it permutation polynomials ($PPs$)}, have been the subject of research for decades. Let ${\mathcal P}^1(\mathbb{F}_q)$ denote $\mathbb{Z}_q \cup \{\infty\}$. If the rational function, $V(x)/U(x)$, permutes the elements of ${\mathcal P}^1(\mathbb{F}_q)$, it is called a {\em permutation rational function (PRf)}. Let $N_d(q)$ denote the number of PPs of degree $d$ over $\mathbb{F}_q$, and let $N_{v,u}(…
Twisted permutation codes, introduced recently by the second and third authors, are frequency permutation arrays. They are similar to repetition permutation codes, in that they are obtained by a repetition construction applied to a smaller code. It was previously shown that the minimum distance of a twisted permutation code is at least the minimum distance of a corresponding repetition permutation code, but in some instances can be larger. We construct two new infinite families of twisted permutation codes with minimum distances strictly greater than those for the corresponding repetition perm…
A general explicit upper bound is obtained for the proportion $P(n,m)$ of elements of order dividing $m$, where $n-1 \le m \le cn$ for some constant $c$, in the finite symmetric group $S_n$. This is used to find lower bounds for the conditional probabilities that an element of $S_n$ or $A_n$ contains an $r$-cycle, given that it satisfies an equation of the form $x^{rs}=1$ where $s\leq3$. For example, the conditional probability that an element $x$ is an $n$-cycle, given that $x^n=1$, is always greater than 2/7, and is greater than 1/2 if $n$ does not divide 24. Our results improve estimates of…
Let $d$ be a positive integer and $x$ a real number. Let $A_{d, x}$ be a $d\times 2d$ matrix with its entries $$ a_{i,j}=\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} x\ \ & \mbox{for} \ 1\leqslant j\leqslant d+1-i, 1\ \ & \mbox{for} \ d+2-i\leqslant j\leqslant d+i, 0\ \ & \mbox{for} \ d+1+i\leqslant j\leqslant 2d. \end{array} \right. $$ Further, let $R_d$ be a set of sequences of integers as follows: $$R_d=\{(ρ_1, ρ_2,\ldots, ρ_d)|1\leqslant ρ_i\leqslant d+i, 1\leqslant i \leqslant d,\ \mbox{and}\ ρ_r\neq ρ_s\ \mbox{for}\ r\neq s\}.$$ and define $$Ω_d(x)=\sum_{ρ\in R_d}a_{1,ρ_1}a_{2, ρ_2}\ldots a_{d,ρ_d}.$$ In o…
In the past decade, the use of ordinal patterns in the analysis of time series and dynamical systems has become an important and rich tool. Ordinal patterns (otherwise known as a permutation patterns) are found in time series by taking $n$ data points at evenly-spaced time intervals and mapping them to a length-$n$ permutation determined by relative ordering. The frequency with which certain patterns occur is a useful statistic for such series; however, the behavior of the frequency of pattern occurrence is unstudied for most models. We look at the frequency of pattern occurrence in random wal…
